GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Senior Alex Tillman's school-record 95-yard punt return for a score in the fourth quarter helped host North Dakota to a 24-16 win over Portland State in Big Sky Conference play Saturday afternoon at the Alerus Center. It was Tillman and the UND defense that had to withstand eight plays from inside its own 20-yard line on the Vikings' final drive, punctuated by a game-ending stop by Dayo Iduwo on the 2-yard line as the clock ran out.

The UND (3-4, 1-2 BSC) victory snapped the program's longest losing skid in Homecoming contests at four and gave head coach Bubba Schweigert his first league win. The last three contests with the Vikings (2-4, 1-1 BSC) have all been decided by eight points or less. 

"I'm really happy for our guys," Schweigert said. "It was important emotionally to get this win today. I'm glad they get to see a positive result from all the hard work they have put in."

In this one, the second-half belonged to the home team as UND outscored the Vikings 21-3 after halftime with backup quarterback Ryan Bartels in relief of Joe Mollberg. UND's starting signal caller left in the first quarter due to injury and Bartels stepped in and finished the day 14-of-23 for 151 yards and a touchdown.

Redshirt freshman Josh Seiber entered the game without a catch, but corralled a team-high nine receptions for 60 yards and Zach Adler added a career-high seven catches for 66 yards and his first career touchdown.  

The day did not start great for UND, however, as the Vikings opened the scoring on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Kieran McDonagh to Steve Coury just over four minutes into the game.

After the teams traded punts on their ensuing possessions, Mollberg started a 14-play, 72-yard drive that resulted in UND's first points of the game thanks to a 35-yard field goal by Reid Taubenheim. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish the series after getting a first down on a short third-down gain.

Bartels relieved him and, after two handoffs, missed on his first pass attempt to set up the field goal. He was just 2-for-6 in the first half, but the sophomore, who started seven games a year ago, would settle down at halftime and fuel a third-quarter rally after his team went into the break trailing 13-3.

Bartels finished the stanza 11-for-15 through the air for 135 yards and scored on a 1-yard rush and found Adler on an 8-yard strike to give UND its first lead of the game at 17-13. UND came into the contest having not scored more than one offensive touchdown in a game, but the back-up signal caller engineered a pair of seven-point drives in just under 12 minutes of game action. The offense was 5-for-5 on third-down conversions during the third quarter and finished 8-for-14 for the game.

Clinging to a 17-16 lead, sophomore Brian Labat sacked McDonagh for a 15-yard loss to take the Vikings out of a field goal range. After taking a delay of game penalty, Kyle Loomis hit a line drive punt 41 yards that Tillman fielded going backwards and after making one man miss, raced the ball all the way back for his second return touchdown of the season (92-yard INT return vs. Stony Brook). Tillman's heroics made it a 24-16 contest, but the victory was not in hand until the defense made a goal-line stand in the final seconds.

It was a wild final series that saw the Vikings start at the UND 18--yard line after Kasey Closs returned a Connor Bolduc punt 27 yards. PSU extended the drive once by converting a fourth down thanks to an 8-yard run by Nate Tago, but junior Dayo Idowu would tackle Tago at the 2-yard line on the second fourth down of the series to ice the victory. 

Will Ratelle had nine total tackles, including one for loss and a pass breakup to lead the UND defensive effort. Idowu finished with eight tackles and his interception in the third quarter set up his team's second touchdown of that stanza.

UND has its bye next week and will return to action and Big Sky play on Oct. 25 at Southern Utah.

GAME NOTES: Team captains for the game were seniors Dwayne Pecosky and Alex Tillman along with juniors Brandon Anderson and Will Ratelle ... UND improved to 3-1 at home this season and is giving up only 12.5 ppg in those contests ... Tillman returned a fourth-quarter punt 95 yards for a touchdown to break a 12-year-old school record of 87 yards held by Riza Mahmoud (vs. Minnesota Crookston; Aug. 29, 2002) ... It was the fourth straight game that UND has gotten a touchdown from either its defense or special teams ... Tillman now owns the second longest punt return and second longest interception return (92-yarder vs. Stony Brook; Sept. 20) in the FCS this season ... Ratelle once again led the team in tackles (sixth time this season) and has 73 tackles on the year ... Freshman Brandon Dranka had a career-high four tackles, including his first career sack ... Senior Jer Garman had a season-high 49 rushing yards (17 carries) and added one reception for 30 yards ... Junior Zach Adler established career-highs with seven receptions for 66 yards and also had the first touchdown of his career ... Redshirt freshman Josh Seibel started the season as a reserve defensive back, but started at wide receiver today and finished with nine catches for 60 yards ... The nine catches were the first of his career and most by a UND receiver in a game this year.

-- UND --